PRESIDENT BARACK Obama has nominated the first Hispanic to the supreme court, choosing 54-year-old appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor, who grew up in a public housing project in New York’s South Bronx.
Introducing Ms Sotomayor in the White House yesterday, Mr Obama said her life experience was as important as her distinguished legal career in qualifying her for the court.
“When Sonia Sotomayor ascends those marble steps to assume her seat on the highest court of the land, America will have taken another important step towards realising the ideal that is etched above its entrance: Equal justice under the law,” he said.
Senate Republicans made clear that Ms Sotomayor will face a tough confirmation process but Democrats are confident she will be approved. “Some groups in the Republican base have said they are ‘spoiling for a fight’, no matter who was nominated. Republican senators up to now have generally shown more responsibility than that, and the American people will want the Senate to carry out its constitutional duty with conscientiousness and civility,” said Senate judiciary committee chairman Patrick Leahy.
Alabama’s Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the committee, said the Senate would give Ms Sotomayor a fair hearing but he warned against rushing the confirmation process.
“We will engage in a fair and thorough examination of Ms Sotomayor’s previous judicial opinions, speeches, and academic writings to determine if she has demonstrated the characteristics that great judges share: integrity, impartiality, legal expertise, and a deep and unwavering respect for the rule of law,” he said.
“Of primary importance, we must determine if Ms Sotomayor understands that the proper role of a judge is to act as a neutral umpire of the law, calling balls and strikes fairly without regard to one’s own personal preferences or political views.” The daughter of immigrants from Puerto Rico, Ms Sotomayor was diagnosed with diabetes when she was eight-years-old and her father died a year later. Her mother, who was at the White House for yesterday’s announcement, worked at two jobs to support Ms Sotomayor and her younger brother in one of New York’s poorest districts.
Ms Sotamayor, who was drawn to the law by reading Nancy Drew mysteries as a child, won a scholarship to Princeton, where she graduated summa cum laude. At Yale Law School, she was an editor of the Yale Law Journaland worked five years as a Manhattan prosecutor before joining a commercial law practice.
Nominated as a federal district court judge by George HW Bush in 1991, Ms Sotomayor was elevated to the appeals court by Bill Clinton in 1997.
Renowned for her tough questioning of lawyers, Ms Sotomayor has been involved in a few cases on controversial issues such as abortion. Conservatives have expressed concern, however, about her approach to race relations and affirmative action, notably in a recent case involving a group of firefighters in New Haven, Connecticut.
The white and Latino firefighters complained that they were denied promotion despite passing a qualifying test because the city nullified the test results on the grounds that no African-Americans had qualified.
Ms Sotomayor was part of a panel of judges that rejected the firefighters’ claim.
Conservative groups are highlighting Ms Sotomayor’s past remarks on ethnicity, accusing her of “reverse racism”. “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” she said in a 2002 lecture.
At the White House yesterday, Ms Sotomayor said her personal and professional experience helped her to appreciate the perspective of everyone involved in the cases before her.
“It has helped me to understand, respect, and respond to the concerns and arguments of all litigants who appear before me, as well as to the views of my colleagues on the bench. I strive never to forget the real-world consequences of my decisions on individuals, businesses, and government,” she said.
